come from the bones.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Quinn left the mortuary and stepped outside into the mild March morning. Spring was in the air, and a few buds had already appeared on the birch trees near the exit. Quinn inhaled deeply, thinking she’d take the children to the playground after school. And then, once they went down for their nap, she’d spend some time with the ring found with the remains.
Chapter 4
October 1777
Long Island, Colony of New York
The morning was breezy and cool, bright sunshine flooding the kitchen as soon as the shutters had been opened. Ben gulped down a cup of milk and stepped outside, needing to see just how much damage last night’s storm had wreaked. The gale had come out of nowhere, gaining in intensity and raging through the night, the tempest ripping through Long Island like some crazed giant who’d torn out trees and smashed outbuildings in his fury. The yard was littered with broken branches, and several felled trees lay on their sides across the fields. He’d chop them up and use them for firewood once the wood dried out.
“Ma?” Ben called out as he stepped into the dim interior of the barn.
“Here, son,” Hannah Wilder called. “I’m just milking Tansy.”
“Where’s Derek?” Ben asked. The house had been empty when he woke, his brothers already gone.
“Derek’s gone to the Blanchette farm.”
“How much longer does she have to wear the splint?” Ben asked. Their closest neighbor, Barbara Blanchette had recently been widowed, and to make matters worse had taken a fall and broken her leg. Her three daughters, all under the age of twelve, did their best to help their mother, but some jobs were beyond them. Derek stopped by nearly every day to chop wood, help Mistress Blanchette up and down the stairs, and fetch any supplies the girls might need from town.
“A fortnight more, at least,” Hannah said. “And once it comes off, she’ll have to take it easy for a while. I feel for the poor woman. There’s so much to do with winter just around the corner.”
Ben nodded. “And Josh?”
“Ran down to the beach first thing this morning,” Hannah said as she rose from the milking stool and lifted the pail of milk.
Josh loved to scour the beach after a storm, looking for beautiful seashells and anything else the sea may have decided to expel from the depths of its roiling cauldron. Unfortunately, Ben didn’t have the luxury of strolling on the beach. The wind had torn at least a dozen shingles from the roof and wrenched off a shutter just outside his mother’s window. A section of the chicken coop enclosure had been flattened, and there were broken branches and leaves in the well. He’d start with the chicken coop, then reattach the shutter and replace the shingles. Hannah would have to see to the well.
Ben had just positioned the ladder against the front of the house when he saw Josh running across the field, waving his arms like windmills.
“Ben!” he screamed. “Ben, you’ve got to come. Quick!”
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Ben cried as he hurried toward Josh. At twelve, Josh was small for his age. His limbs were like birch twigs, white and narrow, and his face had an elfin quality, the ears just pointy enough to attract attention and make him the subject of endless teasing.
“There’s been a shipwreck,” Josh exclaimed, trying to catch his breath as he hunched over, hands on his knees. “There’s stuff all over the beach.” Josh pulled a watch from his pocket, dangling it in front of Ben’s face. “That’s solid gold, I reckon,” he said, grinning impishly.
Ben reached for the watch and looked closer. The mechanism had stopped, due to exposure to water, no doubt, but the casing did look like gold. Was it wrong to take it? Ben turned the watch over, marveling at the fine craftsmanship.
“I’m keeping it,” Josh said defiantly, and held out his hand for the watch.
Ben returned the watch to him. “Are there any survivors?” he asked.
Josh’s mouth opened in shock. It hadn’t even occurred to him that victims might wash up on the beach. He’d never seen a shipwreck, had never been part of the aftermath of a tragedy.
“I don’t know,” Josh muttered. “I haven’t seen any.”
Ben took off at a run, Josh trotting behind him.
“Wait!” Josh wailed. “I hardly had time to catch my breath.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Ben called over his shoulder.
He got to the beach in record time. Several people were walking along slowly,